A Veteran's Affair...
As anyone who has been in the military will tell you, it's not an easy life even if no one is shooting at you, far worse if someone is. Younger folks do hear much about the camaraderie, excitement and adventure of the military from us veterans of a certain age that make it sound like a great life...and mostly it was. But if I think back on my 6 years in the regular army I can, without too much effort, remember that much of it was not pleasant at all. Like sleeping in the mud for months or living in a tent when the temperatures are in the three digits during the day. I can recall living in what was termed "sub-standard" housing for half a year because that was all that was available while I made $500 a month after all my efforts in earning a college degree. Then there were the absences. Absences from all you knew of home and family. Relatives, friends and beloved pets died while you were away and you didn't get to say good-bye. Friends were married and had kids and got a six year head start on their careers while you, the solider, had advanced to the point where you were making $700 a month.
Am I complaining. Hopefully not, I wouldn't trade all my experiences and friends from the military for the world. My comments are actually a setup for my point of the day....I'm grateful as hell for having been in the army all those years ago. Because of the army I lived in places I never would have gone on my own, did exciting things that not many people get to do and met people who are still my friends today..close friends. And, I got a Masters Degree which cost me the grand sum of....zero, nothing, free.
Today I journeyed the 40 miles or so to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Big Spring, Texas pictured above in the photo I took this morning. It was like old home week, for it was here 7 years ago that I had a hernia repaired. Cost:$0.00. Because of the hard times endured all those years ago I am entitled today to a certain amount of free medical care, a benefit that frankly had not seemed terribly important for decades. It does now.
Years ago I had heard horror stories about the VA medical system and how it should be avoided at all costs. That, perhaps, is the case in other locales, but in West Texas the VA gets high marks from me. I have always been attended to promptly and in fact, probably more courteously than at other large private medical facilities. Of course, one of the "tricks" of negotiating through any bureaucracy is to find and befriend an "angel" on the staff [a trick I learned in the army]. My "angel" today was Ricky, a young man at the admin desk who I struck up a conversation with after learning he had just gotten out of active army service. I could have made it through the system without him today...but with him it was a breeze, getting evaluated by a nurse right away and doing the unheard of, seeing a doctor without an appointment. I was out in under three hours with my presciption in hand.
Now my daily dose of Zocor will be mailed to me every month....something I don't get even in the private sector. If you are fortunate enough to have come this far in life without having to be on modern medication and knowing the costs associated with this privelage let me give you an example of what my army service has saved me. This one prescription is about $2400 per year. I pay zip, nada. I never realized that sleeping in the mud for Uncle Sam would be so worthwhile all these years later!!
As anyone who has been in the military will tell you, it's not an easy life even if no one is shooting at you, far worse if someone is. Younger folks do hear much about the camaraderie, excitement and adventure of the military from us veterans of a certain age that make it sound like a great life...and mostly it was. But if I think back on my 6 years in the regular army I can, without too much effort, remember that much of it was not pleasant at all. Like sleeping in the mud for months or living in a tent when the temperatures are in the three digits during the day. I can recall living in what was termed "sub-standard" housing for half a year because that was all that was available while I made $500 a month after all my efforts in earning a college degree. Then there were the absences. Absences from all you knew of home and family. Relatives, friends and beloved pets died while you were away and you didn't get to say good-bye. Friends were married and had kids and got a six year head start on their careers while you, the solider, had advanced to the point where you were making $700 a month.
Am I complaining. Hopefully not, I wouldn't trade all my experiences and friends from the military for the world. My comments are actually a setup for my point of the day....I'm grateful as hell for having been in the army all those years ago. Because of the army I lived in places I never would have gone on my own, did exciting things that not many people get to do and met people who are still my friends today..close friends. And, I got a Masters Degree which cost me the grand sum of....zero, nothing, free.
Today I journeyed the 40 miles or so to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Big Spring, Texas pictured above in the photo I took this morning. It was like old home week, for it was here 7 years ago that I had a hernia repaired. Cost:$0.00. Because of the hard times endured all those years ago I am entitled today to a certain amount of free medical care, a benefit that frankly had not seemed terribly important for decades. It does now.
Years ago I had heard horror stories about the VA medical system and how it should be avoided at all costs. That, perhaps, is the case in other locales, but in West Texas the VA gets high marks from me. I have always been attended to promptly and in fact, probably more courteously than at other large private medical facilities. Of course, one of the "tricks" of negotiating through any bureaucracy is to find and befriend an "angel" on the staff [a trick I learned in the army]. My "angel" today was Ricky, a young man at the admin desk who I struck up a conversation with after learning he had just gotten out of active army service. I could have made it through the system without him today...but with him it was a breeze, getting evaluated by a nurse right away and doing the unheard of, seeing a doctor without an appointment. I was out in under three hours with my presciption in hand.
Now my daily dose of Zocor will be mailed to me every month....something I don't get even in the private sector. If you are fortunate enough to have come this far in life without having to be on modern medication and knowing the costs associated with this privelage let me give you an example of what my army service has saved me. This one prescription is about $2400 per year. I pay zip, nada. I never realized that sleeping in the mud for Uncle Sam would be so worthwhile all these years later!!
